Covid-19 : PM Lee assures Singapore not going to DORSCON Red

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Lee Hsien Loong

SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has emphasised that the COVID-19 situation in the city-state remains under control.

“We are not going to DORSCON (Disease Outbreak Response System Condition) Red,” he said in his televised address on COVID-19 today.

He spoke in three languages and touched on three aspects – medical, economic and psychological.

The republic had raised the DORSCON level to “Orange” from “Yellow” on Feb 7.

The levels are Green, Yellow,  Orange and Red with Green the lowest alert level and Red the highest.

Lee further stressed that there will be no lock down of Singapore like what the Chinese, South Koreans or Italians have done.

The republic has so far recorded 187 positive cases while 96 have fully recovered.

On the economic impact, the Prime Minister said the Government is working on a second package of measures as Singapore’s economy “is taking a big hit.”

“That is why we did the S$4 billion (RM12.1 billion) Support and Stabilisation Package in the Budget last month to help businesses, workers and households tide over the immediate period.

Lee further noted that the Island-city expects more imported cases, and therefore new clusters and new waves of infection, this time coming from many countries rather than one or two.

Singapore has already imposed some travel restrictions for China, Iran, South Korea, and Italy.

“We will have to tighten up further temporarily, though we cannot completely shut ourselves off from the world,” he said.

The prime minister also hoped that Singaporeans understand that during this period they may need to shorten religious services, or reduce attendance at such gatherings.

As its latest pre-emptive steps, Singapore today announced that all mosques will be closed for at least the next five days for disinfection while tomorrow’s Friday prayers will be suspended.

“In South Korea, the cases spread through the Shincheonji church group. In Singapore, two of our big clusters happened in church groups. And several Singaporeans who attended a big international religious gathering in Kuala Lumpur recently have caught the virus.

“The issue is of course not religion itself, but that the virus can spread quickly to many people in crowded settings, like religious gatherings and services. That is why Saudi Arabia temporarily stopped umrah (minor haj)  pilgrimages; and the Pope live-streamed his sermons to avoid crowds on Saint Peter’s Square,” Lee said. – Bernama